New Directions

T Is For Treason

In 1605, Guy Fawkes and a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the British Parliament House, and, in the process, kill the members of Parliament and the Protestant King James. Their goal was merely political – they just wanted to restore a Catholic king to the throne. Fawkes was caught and ultimately put to death – after he confessed (under extreme torture) to treason and implicated the other conspirators. Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th) was then created as a reminder to the citizens of England of the horrific consequences, i.e. horrific torture, that would be dealt to any other persons who attempted to overthrow the government. Interestingly, Guy Fawkes Day now seems to be more a rallying day for people who despise the current government of England. It would seem that perhaps not everyone thinks that treason is a bad thing.

Which brings us to the current day. Most of us are aware that over the past week or so the American public lost a great deal of money in the stock market. On August 8th alone the market lost over $1,000,000,000,000.00 (One trillion dollars). A good deal of this money was from 401k investments, upon the earnings of which many Americans hope – or had hoped – to retire. Now they have lost any not only the earnings they might have accumulated, but they also lost a good amount of principal too. How could this have happened? How could the entire world have become so frightened that a worldwide selloff was triggered? Was it simply because a rating agency (S&P) published an opinion that downgraded the U.S. from a AAA risk to a AAa risk? Or was it something else?

The events that led up to the S&P downgrade are indicative of a pernicious attitude among some people in our Congress. Clearly, one expects the opposition party to oppose the agenda of the majority party. That is the way democracies always work. However, our democracy is no longer a functioning democracy. The opposition gang decided to refuse to compromise until the 11th hour. They were playing “chicken” with the welfare of the country, like a bunch of ignorant children, unaware that they are playing with fire. And the world is scared.

However, these were not children. They were intelligent men. They knew what they were doing. They were well aware of the potential catastrophic effects of their refusal to bargain in good faith for the “good of the country”. These men, who had all sworn to uphold the Constitution, had, with their eyes wide open, driven the bus over a cliff. Why? There is, of course, only one reason – wealth. The Party of individual wealth had decided that they owed nothing to the American people. Their loyalty was only to their own individual wealth – their businesses, their cronies, and their Party – loyalty to the Party was paramount (just like in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union). And they stayed loyal, until at the last possible moment – then they grudgingly made a miserly deal. But it was too little and too late. S&P had seen enough. These guys in the Party were not working for the people of the United States – in fact they were harming the people of the United States. And they didn’t care. S&P had no option but to advise their worldwide clients to beware because the U.S.A was no longer a stable country, and you could no longer rely on the government’s ability to pay its debt. All because of the uncaring, foolish zealots of the Party.

Today, the entire world is still feeling the aftershocks of this pernicious collusion in Congress. Today the economy of the U.S., Europe, and Asia are all weaker because of the fanatics who have been elected to Congress. The problem is apparent to the world. Congress has been seized by a group of fanatics, zealots, and true believers in crackpot economic theories, and others who just want to profit from the collapse of the U.S. economy. How can a member of Congress, in good conscience, sell the U.S. economy short? How can these people, elected to do the will of the people, cause such economic devastation and still hold their heads high?

Legally, these activities are not treason in the U.S. However, they hardly indicate love of country, or a sense of duty. These people clearly have no feeling of empathy for the economic ruin their activities have caused and will continue to cause to millions upon millions of innocent Americans.

Call it what you will, but as far as I am concerned, T is for treason.

2 Responses

Just stumbled across your blog. It’s awesome. I wish more people in this country would do the work of thinking, and verifying the facts (as best as they can be uncovered) in order to form their own conclusions on these issues. Perhaps then there’d be more continuity and agreement on the path forward.

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